JASON TAYLOR

Jason L. Taylor, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor in the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy at the University of Utah and he is the current President of the Council for the Study of Community Colleges (CSCC). Between 2019 and 2025, he served as Director of Tranasfer Pathways and an Assistant Dean for Transfer Student Success in Undergradaute Studies at the University of Utah. In partnership with Dr. Erin Castro at the University of Utah, Dr. Taylor is the Co-PI on the Prison Education Research Initaitive (PERI), a longituinal research-practice partnership with 20+ colleges and universities to examine postsecondary education in prison (PEP) programs, as part of the newly launched Prison Education Action Research Lab (PEARL) at the University of Utah.  

Dr. Taylor received his Ph.D. in Higher Education from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign with a research specialization in evaluation methods and concentration in public policy. His broad research interests are at the intersection of community college and higher education policy, and educational and social inequality. Dr. Taylor has conducted and led several quantitative and mixed methods studies related to college readiness, developmental education, college affordability, adult pathways to college, dual credit/enrollment and early college experiences, transfer policy and reverse transfer, higher education in prison, LGBTQ students, career and technical education, and educational access and equity. The goal of his research is to examine and better understand how public policies impact underserved students' access to, transition through, and success in community colleges and institutions of higher education to contribute to both theory and practice. Dr. Taylor has published nearly 60 publications in peer reviewed journals, book chapters, policy briefs, commissioned papers, and evaluation reports, and he has published two edited books/volumes. As PI or Co-PI, he has secured over $9 million in research funding to support his research program and research collaborations. He has served as an Associate Editor for Educational Researcher, and has been on the editorial boards for Community College Review and Educational Evaluation and Policy Analyssis. 

Dr. Taylor's research is informed by his experiences as a first-generation college graduate, his professional experience working in institutional and policy contexts, and in working in close partnership with postsecondary and secondary educators and leaders. Prior to graduate school, Dr. Taylor was an academic advisor at Illinois State University where he advised new freshmen and transfer students, and he was the Registrar at Chaparral College in Tucson, Arizona.